1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a composite electronic component including a resistor device and a capacitor device, and also relates to a resistor device included in an composite electronic component and structured to be used for the composite electronic component.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of composite electronic components have been proposed each including a resistor element (R) and a capacitor element (C) for achieving a higher degree of integration of electronic elements disposed on a circuit board.
For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-338838 discloses a composite electronic component including a chip capacitor that includes a capacitor body and a resistive element disposed on an external surface of the capacitor body, and the resistive element is connected to a pair of external electrodes disposed on the external surface of the capacitor body so that the resistor element and the capacitor element are electrically connected to each other.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. H06-283301 discloses a composite electronic component into which chip devices having a rectangular parallelepiped shape and identical in shape and dimensions are integrated. The chip devices are of two or more types selected from a group of chip resistors, chip thermistors, chip capacitors, and chip varistors, for example. In this composite electronic component, the chip devices are disposed on each other in the direction of the thickness of these devices, and a lead frame covers respective terminal electrodes of the devices together. The devices are thus integrated into the composite electronic component.
The composite electronic component disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-338838 includes the resistive element provided directly on the surface of the capacitor body, which increases the difficulty in processing during manufacture. In addition, electrical characteristics of the resistive element are restricted by the size of the capacitor body as well as by the shape and the size, for example, of the pair of external electrodes disposed on the capacitor body. Consequently, the degree of freedom in designing the composite electronic component is significantly reduced.
As for the composite electronic component disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. H06-283301, it is necessary to fabricate the different chip devices so as to be integrated, so that these chip devices are rectangular parallelepipeds that are identical in shape and dimensions. Due to this, electrical characteristics of each chip device are significantly restricted. Consequently, the degree of freedom in designing the composite electronic component is significantly reduced as well.
The composite electronic components disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 2001-338838 and H06-283301 are both limited to a configuration in which the resistor element (R) and the capacitor element (C) are electrically connected in parallel, due to the inherent structures of the composite electronic components. Consequently, the degree of freedom in designing a circuit is significantly limited. Use of these composite electronic components is therefore limited to a specific circuit.